Romans 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; If we organized a conference on “Failure and Disappointment,” do you think anyone would come? If you wrote a book on that subject, do you think anyone would buy it? Failure and disappointment are not popular topics. They don’t sell tickets or books. They don’t generate clicks, as Internet marketers assure us. We don’t want to think about our own failures and disappointments, never mind hear about those of others. We live in a “success culture” that idolizes victory and fulfillment. But it’s all so unreal. Copied from Tabletalk website.
Failure is human. Failure is a normal situation when comparing ourselves to God. We have failed to come up to the standard of the glory of God. In our Biblical history many failed, yet God did not abandon them. It is true that He corrected them and many times the correction was harsh, but in many cases they were warned and ignored the warnings, thus the correction.
Some would call the correction punishment, but God has a different prospective on it. He calls it chastisement. Hebrews 12:5-7 “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?”
Why would a loving God punish or chasten, if you would rather, his children? Well let’s let scripture tell you. Hebrews 12:9-10 “Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness.”
Our fathers punished us for a variety of reasons. I can rememebr comeing home very late. Dad took my car keys away. I made the mistake of smiling because I had a lot of friends with cars. I really didn’t need to have mine. My father brought out his attitude corrector and I learned a valuable lesson. Doing something wrong is painful.
Our Lord God corrects us for a much better reason. He who knows the future knows when our direction will cause harm instead of good. He uses correction many time to change our direction from sin to living a more holy life. Ok, what exactly is a holy life, you ask?
1 Peter 1:13-25 calls all people of faith to live a life of holiness. Literally, holy living means that the Christian lives a life that is set apart, reserved to give glory to God. It is a life of discipline, focus, and attention to matters of righteous living.
God asked it of Israel. Leveticus 11:44 “For I am the LORD your God: ye shall therefore sanctify yourselves, and ye shall be holy; for I am holy: neither shall ye defile yourselves with any manner of creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”
Make a small note here…they didn’t and they were punished or chastened, if you please.
That desire of God for holiness for His children follows into the New Testament. IPeter 1:16 “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”
Its repeated in Leveticus 19:2 and in Leveticus 20:7 the Bible commands us to be separate from the world. Why? Amos 3:3 tell us: Amo 3:3 “Can two walk together, except they be agreed?” God repeats this question in the New Testament in a letter to the church at Corinth.
2Corinthians 6:14-18 “B e ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness? And what concord hath Christ with Belial? or what part hath he that believeth with an infidel? And what agreement hath the temple of God with idols? for ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.”
Will be disappoint God with our lives? Of course! We aren’t smart enough to listen when He scolds (exhorts) us. But there is a cure for it all.
IPeter 4:1-6 “Forasmuch then as Christ hath suffered for us in the flesh, arm yourselves likewise with the same mind: for he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin; That he no longer should live the rest of his time in the flesh to the lusts of men, but to the will of God.”
Always remember, there is a way back and God will guide you if you allow Him to. He may need to use chastisement if w don’t listen when he exhorts us. Let me give you this last nugget for you to chew on. God uses preachers all over this world to exhort, reprove, rebuke and teach doctrine. Exhort is to encourage you to do right. Reprove is to show you the right way. Rebuke is when you don’t listen that well, and doctrine makes sure you know the difference between right and wrong.
2Timothy 4:2-3 “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itching ears;” The last part tells us of a time when people will no longer listen. Are we in that time now?
